State Superintendent Bonds Out After Entering 'Not Guilty' Plea

State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister is out on bond after turning herself into the Oklahoma County Jail Friday and entering a 'not-guilty' plea in court.

Four people charged along with Hofmeister have warrants out for their arrest.

With the election right around the corner, the timing of her arrest isn't good for State Question 779. Even though it has large favorability among voters in our exclusive polling data, our pollster says Hofmeister's arrest could impact the numbers.

A day after being charged with four felonies related to fundraising for her 2014 campaign, Hofmeister went to court alone early Friday morning and entered a ‘not guilty’ plea.

11/4/2016 Related Story: Joy Hofmeister Enters ‘Not Guilty’ Plea On Charges Of Campaign Violations

Hofmeister is out on bond and she's the only one of the five charged to surrender so far.

We spoke with one of the others, Lela Odom, the former head of the Oklahoma Education Association, who said, “In fact, I am just now reading them and I saw it on the TV; yesterday was the first I knew of it.”

A judge issued arrest warrants for Odom and the others who are charged - Hofmeister campaign consultant, Stephanie Dawn Milligan, CCOSA Executive Director Steven Crawford, and owner of AH Strategies, Fount Holland.”

Just four days from the general election, how might the arrest of the state's education chief affect a vote for raising the state’s sales tax by a penny to pay for teacher pay hikes?

A statewide poll News On 6 ran a month ago showed overwhelming support for State Question 779, but a lot can change in a month.

11/4/2016 Related Story: Will Superintendent Hofmeister's Indictment Impact Penny Sales Tax Vote?

"Any of the state question polling that we’ve done up to this point I would say is circumspect because it could change overnight. Anything can easily influence it. Can this recent indictment of our school superintendent affect these numbers? Of course it can,” said SoonerPoll director, Bill Shapard.

Shapard said most voters should be able to distinguish between a state question over higher teacher pay and the campaign finance charges Hofmeister is facing.

"We’ve seen a lot of crazy things in politics this year. That might be another crazy thing that we see as well,” he said.

Hofmeister's next court date is December 13th.